Posted by Ex-Instructor on August 13, 2002 at 15:46:36:
In Reply to: Re: Humility and Respect. posted by ? on August 13, 2002 at 14:18:43:
Good questions. FYI, I'm no bible scholar. I do love discussing God though. It's amazing to me that I enjoy this stuff. I used to love the opposite side of the argument - always working hard to get the goat of the Christian I was talking to. And now the worm has turned. Funny how God gave me what I wanted - intelligent arguments toward him. He turned it all around on me!
?where have all the miracles gone?
Good question. Who said that they've gone anywhere? I see miracles all around me. How about a bunch of miners that get trapped under ground for 70 some odd hours, and all come out alive? That seems pretty miraculous. How about a simple thing like my transformation from being a believer in the satanic bible to being a believer in Christ? That's a pretty miraculous transformation.
Here's an explanation as to why I don't think you see fire and brimstone falling from the sky, and God smiting people here and there, or people rising from the dead: it wouldn't make a difference.
Look, the fact is, God has done all this - and yet there are still unbelievers all around the world. It just doesn't leave a lasting impression. God would turn into some sort of cosmic side show if miracles were abounding all over the place. I mean, think about - the guards of Christ's tomb saw him rise from the dead - yet they did not convert. What would it take then to convince the masses? Besides, almost any good miracle can be explained away. Look at the amount of time we've spent explaining John Kim's stupid eleven story drop. The point is, we humans wouldn't pay long-term attention to such miracles.
?if god is not capable of evil how did he create it?
Good question! The answer is love. Think about it. God desires a relationship with us that is bound by free will. He doesn't want a bunch of robots loving him. That wouldn't be free. If God only created love, then we wouldn't be free to choose it. We'd be stuck in a world where we had only one choice - love God.
Thus, God had to create both sides of the coin, even if he himself can only Love (because, the bible clearly states, evil is against God and not in his nature). Lucipher, for example, is so completely evil because he was the most beautiful of all of God's creatures (with beauty being love). With a great capacity for love comes an equally great capacity for evil.
Thus, without evil, there can be no freely given love.
*; =qq(